Screen goes white, then goes normal again after put to sleep

The screen on my macbook sometimes goes completly white. If I close the lid, and let the harddrive shut down, it goes back to normal. If I close the lid and open it again really fast so that the computer don't go into power saving mode, the screen is still blank.

Sometimes it goes white when I adjust the screen angle but mostly nothing happens when i try to reproduce the error by adjusting the screen angle or pressing along the edges of it.

It also seems to happen while doing heavy stuff like watching 1080p.

It happens maybe once an hour somedays but sometimes I can use it for 2 days without complications.

This is really wierd, i have reinstalled OSX from scratch. The computer is fully functional while display is white, I can start programs while it is white. The strangest thing is that the harddrive has to power down for the screen to get normal again. What could this be?

4 Answers

You should connect the MP to an external monitor to check if you get the same situation on the external. If so then the logic board is faulty (I would be surprised if it was the case). If not, your video cable (LVDS) could be the culprit (faulty or need to be connected firmly to the LCD socket). From you description I would suspect the LVDS cable but this HD relation with the video feed could lead to a problematic I never observed.

I have not been able to connect the computer to an external screen. However, i tried starting iChat with a friend just before the screen went white, and shared my screen with him. He could use my computer while the screen was blank (and see what he was doing). We also discovered that if he changes he resolution of my screen, it goes back to normal. hmmm......

Finally, someone else has the same problem. I actually paid a Mac repair store 200€ to repair it but it helped not at all. It does seem that it is memory related but not consistently. They thought it was the cable connection. If it was that, there must be a problem "upstream" that causes the cable connection problem.

This was happening more and more frequently with our MacBook (fade to white screen and/or display frozen). We attached an external VGA during the last event and the laptop drove it just fine. This seems to point to a defective display (hardware problem).